British India and Hegel

Hegel considered idea or consciousness as the moving force of history and respective social changes.
The content of our mind dictates the destiny of the development of the nation. And he also noted
that social institutions of a country too are merely the reflection of ideas backing them
behind the curtains.

This is obvious because all the tectonic shifts in history be it the American, French, and Russian revolutions,
Renaissance and reformation, Enlightenment, and Industrial-scientific advancements are the brainchildren
of consciousness and the products of thought. Of course, here we are not undermining the ambitions, dream projects, and territory-expanding visions of kings, queens, and military generals. Simply put, consciousness and its quality
no matter how subjective that term may be, push the needle forward, for better or worse.

Considering this the biggest damage done to India by the British is the incapacitation and the wounding of our consciousness.
Macaulay’s education, Divide and rule policy to raise a chasm between Hindus and Muslims, Casualization
of aping of the west and its values, Racism, and the Worshipping of Victorian morality (LGBT hatred to be specific here),
Paternal culture of bureaucrats, Linguistic hierarchy based on English, and caste consolidation by census and
deliberative administrative practices are a few ways through which the psyche of nations’ mind was disturbed
and changed in a derogatory way for which no amount of reparations is sufficient to undo the harm.